


Caufield Reimagined

by SuchASeeweedBrain



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Take on Caufield, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Alex, Canon Rewrite, M/M, Secret Santa 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21658732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuchASeeweedBrain/pseuds/SuchASeeweedBrain
Summary: When Alex learns that Michael is an alien and that his father has been running Project Shepard for years, he decides to play his cards a little differently. He goes undercover, convincing his dad that he's on his side now, so he'll take Alex to the secret prison full of aliens. He just hadn't quite counted on Michael finding out before he'd found a way to get the aliens out.-A rewrite of season 1 from the moment Alex finds out about Michael in 1x08
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 32
Kudos: 186
Collections: 12 Days Of Malex 2019





	Caufield Reimagined

**Author's Note:**

> My Secret Santa gift to the lovely Jamie! I hope you enjoy it!

‘Aliens?’ Alex said, trying his hardest to keep his face under control. ‘ _Aliens_?’ He repeated with more force. His father was searching his face, looking for something, Alex wasn’t sure what.

‘Yes. Aliens.’ His father nodded, his hands clenched around the arms of the chair Alex had tied him to. ‘Michael Guerin is an alien.’ Alex shook his head disbelievingly. He turned back to the monitors and reread all the information on there, trying not to get distracted by the picture of Michael with _threat level red_ underneath it. He read everything twice. He could feel his father’s eyes on him. He needed to play his cards right.

‘I can’t believe it.’ He said, making sure that there was disgust in his voice.

‘It’s true, son. I know this has to be a shock, but it’s true.’ He didn’t turn around quite yet. His father was seeing an opportunity to manipulate him, and Alex wanted him to try.

‘I feel sick.’ He said, bringing a hand up to his chest.

‘I was just trying to protect you, all those years ago.’ His father said and Alex could feel his blood start to boil, but he made himself breathe, slowly in and out and he let go. Now was not the time for anger. ‘I hope you can start to see that now.’ His father seemed to think he was getting to Alex.

‘I can’t believe it.’ Alex muttered for good measure.

‘I know this must be hard, but I was just looking for the right time to bring you in. To show you the truth. We can work together, Alex. You, me and Flint.’ That send a shock through Alex and he turned around.

‘Flint knows?’ He asked. He pushed his anger down, down, down and locked it away. It was game time. ‘I want you to tell me everything.’

‘Everything?’

‘Everything. What they are, how they got here and how to destroy them.’ He channelled every last bit of cold, hard _Manes_ he could find within himself. His father smiled.

‘I can do that.’

Alex untied his father. He let him off the chair and when he put his hand on Alex’s shoulder, he didn’t move away or punch him, like he wanted to. He let him near, he listened carefully and he let his father believe Alex was on his side now. He made disgusted noises at the right time, he pulled his lip up in a sneer and clenched his fists at the right times, as his father showed him the information he had.

All the information.

The crash, the initial investigation and autopsies, the tests and the torture. Alex felt sick, but he pushed it all to the back of his mind. He could unpack that later. Right now, he was conning his own father. Caulfield. His father told him about Caulfield. A prison. A secret prison in which they’d kept aliens for decades, his family and Kyle’s. War criminals.

‘I want you to take me there.’ His father’s hand tightened on his shoulder and Alex immediately tried to soften the demand. ‘I need to see it for myself. I need to know. I need to understand what he is, what _it_ did to me.’ That seemed to work. Nothing worked quite like dehumanizing an entire species and promising hellfire and destruction to earn his dad’s trust.

‘I’ll take you there.’ His father said. ‘We could use your expertise.’ Yeah, if their systems were designed as terribly as the ones here in the bunker, they did, in fact need help. So Alex nodded firmly.

‘I’ll help you in any way I can.’

‘Good boy.’ He can’t remember the last time his father said anything good about him. There was something so twisted about _this_ being the thing his father was proud about. He was proud of Alex’s anger, his fury, his hatred.

If only he’d known it was _him_ that Alex truly hated.

His father drove them to Caufield three days later. Alex had barely spoken to anyone, only Kyle, but he hadn’t told him anything. He needed to know what he was dealing with before he brought anyone else in. And if his father hadn’t bought Alex’s lies, he needed to make sure he was the only one to pay the price. He couldn’t risk Kyle’s life.

They pulled up to an old, abandoned looking building. At least, it looked abandoned at first glance. When Alex looked closer, he could see the powerlines, and the satellites. Signs of life. His dad lead him inside where they were met by his brother.

Alex didn’t hesitate before stomping up to his brother and punching Flint square in the mouth. His leg ached as he twisted his hips to give his hit more strength, but he ignored it.

‘ _Ow_! What the hell, Alex?’ Flint asked, outraged, as he stumbled backwards.

‘Oh no, don’t worry about it _Alex_. There’s _nothing_ going on with our family Alex. Of course I wouldn’t keep _secrets from you Alex_.’ He sneered at his brother, quoting the lies his brother had told him over the years. ‘Fuck you, Flint.’

‘You son of a-‘

‘Alright, boys. That’s enough.’ His father said and Alex stopped. Flint clenched his jaw, but didn’t continue. ‘Now that that’s out of the way, let’s bring Alex up to speed.’ Flint looked suspicious.

‘On all of it?’

‘Yes, on all of it.’

‘Are you-‘

‘I thought I told you to do something?’ His father interrupted Flint and Alex tried not to smirk triumphantly. Judging by the filthy look Flint threw at him, he didn’t succeed very well.

They took him into what seemed to be the main control room. This place was so much bigger than Alex had imagined. It was just about his worst nightmare. The only thing that could have made this worse was if Michael was here. He didn’t touch anything, not yet. He let them talk him through the operation. He knew they were still keeping some things from him, he wasn’t stupid and he could tell when his father would cut in and jump to a different subject. He decided not to push.

His father had deliberately waited three days before taking him here, he knew that for certain. It was all tactics. He was making sure Alex wasn’t just angry in the heat of the moment and would change his mind. He was making sure Alex was properly on their side. Willing to be a good little soldier and do what he was told, even though he outranked his dad, technically.

‘-so that’s where we’ve been having problems.’ Flint finished and Alex nodded.

‘Hm, yeah. The power isn’t being distributed properly, so your power levels drop dangerously low. If you create a black out here, that would be bad, right?’ Alex asked, looking at his father over his shoulder. It went against every fibre of his being to show his dad his unprotected back, but he was trying to prove a point.

‘Yes, if anyone sets off the alarm, or if the power is turned off, this whole place will blow.’ Alex made sure not to show any of the shock he felt on his face. He kept it blank and nodded.

‘Well, that’s pretty dangerous considering how bad the distribution is. It could trigger by accident.’ Alex said. ‘Anyone working here could be blown to smithereens.’

‘There’s a delay on the explosion.’ Flint said and Alex filed that information away. ‘So any guards can get out.’

‘Couldn’t they just turn it off?’

‘Once the alarm is triggered, there’s no way to turn it off.’ That made Alex pause and frown.

‘What? Isn’t that kind of stupid? All of this intel, all of these specimen would be destroyed, even if the alarm was triggered accidentally?’ Alex asked, making sure not to call the aliens people. Specimen, they were just specimen.

‘It’s just to make sure no one tries to break them out.’ Flint said with steel in his jaw as he looked at Alex. Alex narrowed his eyes at him.

‘I’m going to make sure that there’s another one that ends up in here. Take your suspicious looks, and shove them up your-‘

‘Alex.’ His father said in that warning tone that made Alex’s skin crawl.

‘Sorry, dad. I’m still kind of angry.’ Alex said, after a short pause. A hand landed on his shoulder and Alex refused to flinch.

‘That’s good, just don’t take it out on your brother.’

‘He’s making it seem like I’m here on some covert operation.’ Alex complained. Playing the little brother card was always tricky with his dad, but he felt like this would amuse him. Sure enough, his dad chuckled.

‘Flint, tone it down. You didn’t see Alex’s face when he found out. He’s with us.’

Ding, ding, ding. Jackpot.

Alex had started to form a plan immediately after he was fully introduced to Caufield. He realized pretty quickly, that he’d need help. With everything going on, the only person he really trusted to help him was Kyle. Kyle who apparently already knew about aliens, but hadn’t told Alex. That had been an awkward conversation.

Now, there was two of them, planning and gathering intel and making sure that Guerin didn’t find out. Well. They were supposed to make sure Michael didn’t find out.

Alex was working at Caufield that day with Flint. His phone, as usual, was in his pocket and on vibrate. He was trying to figure out how the power problem could be fixed, more accurately he was pretending to do that while actually trying to figure out a way to shut down the alarm system entirely. Luckily, Flint didn’t understand half of what Alex was doing.

His phone buzzed in his pocket, but he didn’t immediately check it. He’d found something interesting in the alarm coding, a possible weak spot. He got distracted by it until his phone buzzed again, and then again, and again. He frowned and pulled the device from his pocket. Kyle had tried calling him, twice, followed by a series of increasingly desperate texts, the last of which read:

_SOS! Alex, Guerin is about to show up at Caufield!!_

Alex froze.

No. No this could be happening. He stood up and ignored Flint’s questions, he barely even heard him as he started heading down the stairs and towards the entrance. He couldn’t let this happen, he wasn’t ready.

He almost ran into Kyle.

‘Alex! Shit. Look, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to tell him anything, he just-‘

‘Where is he?’ Alex interrupted, how they got here wasn’t important, the only thing that mattered was getting Michael the hell out of here without anyone knowing he was ever here. He’d have to scramble some security footage.

‘That way.’ Kyle pointed towards where Michael would end up right in the middle of the big hall with the cells. That was the worst place for him to go. Alex hated it, but running was uncomfortable as fuck with his prosthetic. Kyle stuck close to him and they made it there in less than a minute. When they came bursting in, Michael was standing in the middle of the big hall.

He looked devastated. Horrified. Heartbroken.

And when his eyes landed on Alex, he looked furious.

‘Guerin-‘ Alex started, but he didn’t know how to continue. What was he supposed to say?

‘How long, Alex?’ Michael asked, stepping closer. Kyle moved like he was trying to protect Alex, protect him from Michael. ‘How long have you known this was here? How long have you known about us?’ Alex swallowed.

‘Almost a week.’

‘You’ve known this was here for a _week_? Why are they still in here, Alex?’ Michael’s voice was rising now. ‘Do you think they’re monsters? Do you think they’re dangerous? Do you think _I’m_ dangerous? Was that the plan? Lure me here so you could lock me up too, experiment on me, _torture_ me, do you hate me that much?’

‘What? No, Michael that’s not-‘ Alex stepped forward, ignoring Kyle’s nervous shift.

‘Stay away from me.’ Michael snapped and it was a little bit like getting punched in the face. ‘I don’t trust you.’

‘I’ve been trying to-‘

‘Alex?’ Flint’s voice behind him startled him into silence. Michael turned narrowed eyes to Flint. Alex glanced over at him. Flint was pointing a gun at Michael. Oh no.

‘It’s fine. I’ve got this.’ Alex tried, but his brother slowly came down the stairs.

‘Get away from him.’ Flint told Kyle, motioning at him with his gun. Kyle raised his hands up in the air and backed away from Alex. Alex felt completely overwhelmed. It wasn’t supposed to go like this. He was supposed to have more time. Michael looked furious, his eyes narrowed at Flint like he didn’t even see the gun.

‘You’re just as bad as the rest of them.’ Michael said with a sneer on his face and tears in his eyes. Alex could hear the air rush out of him. Out of all the things Michael could have said to him, that was probably the worst.

‘See, Alex.’ Flint stepped closer to him. ‘He doesn’t really care about you, probably never did.’ Kyle looked like this was killing him. Alex forced himself to breathe in and swallowed away the tears pricking behind his eyes.

He could fix this.

He wasn’t sure how, but he would fix this.

First things first.

‘I’m sorry.’ He said. His brother’s confused look made it clear that he wasn’t expecting Alex to say that to _him_. Alex didn’t give him time to react, he struck his brother in the side of the head with his elbow, simultaneously taking the gun from his hands. He hit his brother again, in the jaw this time, on his way down, just for good measure, Manes men didn’t go down easy. His hand was shaking as he wrapped it around the gun. He looked up at Michael and Kyle after making sure his brother was knocked out.

‘Alex-‘ Kyle started, but he didn’t seem to know what to say next. Alex turned to Michael. He looked like it was taking every last bit of his effort not to kill Alex where he stood. Alex felt himself sway with the overwhelming feeling of _please no_.

‘I wanted to help-‘

‘You think _this_ is helping?’ Michael interrupted him. ‘This is torture! This is a fucking war crime!’ Michael yelled. Alex could see things start to float in his peripheral vision. Kyle looked concerned.

‘I needed time-‘

‘Time for what? To decide whether they were worth saving?’ Michael yelled, interrupting Alex again. He was starting to get angry now. Like the waves of fury radiating off Michael were infecting him.

‘Would you let me-‘

‘These people are my family Alex! My family! And you kept them from me!’

‘ _Shut up_!’ Alex screamed, his breath trembled on the inhale. ‘You know I’m not good with words, so shut the fuck up and let me _talk_!’ He could feel the first treacherous tear run down his cheek. He wiped at it angrily with the hand holding the gun. ‘I didn’t want to tell you yet because I needed to figure out a way to save them first. I needed my father to tell me about this place, where it was, the security measures, I needed him to give me access, so I played along. I pretended to be on his side and he believed me.’ Alex took another shaky inhale. ‘And then he told me that if the alarm is triggered, this whole place will blow and that there’s no way to turn it off! I’ve spend the last four days trying to figure out how to get them out of here! You don’t get to tell me that I’m just like them, it’s not fucking _fair_ Michael. I’m _not_ like them. I’m not.’ He hated how his voice cracked and how he could feel the desperation spill over. Kyle stepped closer to him, and Michael looked like he’d been slapped. The objects that had been floating had dropped back down and Michael looked like all of the fight had been dragged out of him in a few seconds. 

‘I didn’t-‘

‘No, you didn’t know, because you just immediately expected the worst of me.’ Alex said as Kyle’s hand landed on his shoulder. He wanted to shrug him off, but he also appreciated the support, so he didn’t. He allowed himself to stare at Michael for a few seconds. He looked terrible. Wrung out and tired and beaten down and alone. But also hopeful. There was just the tiniest spark of hope.

‘I didn’t mean that.’ Michael said. Alex wasn’t sure if he believed him, so he just turned to the terminal that was in the cellblock.

‘I found a loophole today. I hope I can use it to turn the whole alarm system off, otherwise we’re fucked.’ Kyle followed him, leaving Michael standing there.

‘Should I tie up your brother? In case he wakes up?’ Kyle asked and Alex nodded shortly, that was a good idea.

‘Thank you Kyle.’

‘I’m so sorry Alex.’

‘Now is not the time.’ Alex knew he was being short and rude, but he also felt like he’d just been run over by a truck, or shot repeatedly in a bulletproof vest.

He sat himself down at the terminal, his leg ached, but he ignored it. It was time to try and find out if he could actually save these aliens, or if they had condemned them all to die. For a while, maybe ten minutes, there was nothing but the sound of Alex’s fingers on the keyboard, Kyle tying Flint to a chair and soft breathing. The gun was on the desk next to Alex, a constant, glaring reminder of how utterly fucked he was.

Even if they managed to get the aliens out, what were they going to do next? They were traumatized, tortured, they looked hurt and beaten and they’d probably hate both Alex and Kyle on principle. They were a Manes and a Valenti, after all. Where were they going to leave them? They could hardly show up in town with twenty-something random people.

That was not his priority right now, it was getting them out. That was step one. He let himself get dragged into the network, finding the weak spot again and tentatively checking if he could exploit that.

Alex jumped when suddenly, an alarm sounded. Loud and hard. He immediately made sure it hadn’t been him, he hadn’t triggered anything, how…

He whirled around in his chair. Michael was standing next to one of the cells, hand pressed against the glass, cracks branching outwards from where his hand was. He was looking at Alex over his shoulder with wide eyes.

‘What the fuck did you do?’ Alex said, horrified, whirling back around, forcing his hands to fly over the keys faster. ‘You tripped the fucking alarm.’ Alex said, more to his computer than anyone else.

‘Alex, can you turn it off?’ Kyle asked, he sounded like he was on the verge of panicking, and honestly Alex was with him all the way.

‘I don’t know. You need to take Flint and get the hell out of here.’ Alex said. Kyle immediately protested.

‘I’m not leaving you here!’

‘I need you to take Flint outside. I can’t be responsible for his or your death.’ Alex said, eyes still on the screen. ‘Kyle, please, I need to focus. Go.’ He tried. ‘ _Go_!’ He repeated when he didn’t hear any movement. He heard a soft curse and rustling fabric then.

‘What about Guerin?’

‘I won’t be able to get him to leave unless I knock him out.’ Alex said. He knew this was true. Michael would never leave. He’d just have to save them both.

‘How long?’ Before the alarm went off.

‘Maybe two minutes.’

‘Fuck. Manes, if you die I’m going to be so fucking pissed.’ Kyle said and as far as heartfelt goodbyes went, this one was pretty good.

‘If you don’t leave now _I’m_ going to be fucking pissed, now _go_.’ Alex could hear Kyle’s footsteps start to disappear while he dragged along an unconscious Flint.

He wasn’t sure what Michael was doing behind him, but he didn’t care, if he couldn’t do this, they’d both die. He didn’t have to be careful anymore, the alarm was already tripped, he just needed to shut it down. Destroy the whole system if he had to. He didn’t have a count down, he wasn’t sure if that made things better or worse. The alarm was loud and it bounced around his skull. He fought the system for all he was worth, he was basically smashing through the coding like a bull in a china shop.

He thought he had to be almost there, when suddenly, the alarm stopped. It went quiet and Alex’s fingers froze on the keys. He was expecting a blast. He was expecting to be wrapped up by darkness. Maybe he’d see a bright white light. Maybe there would just suddenly be nothing.

Nothing happened.

‘Did you do it?’ Michael’s voice behind him startled him. His hands were still hovering over the keys. Michael sounded broken and destroyed, ripped apart and put back together and then shattered.

‘I don’t know.’ Alex said honestly. He carefully tried a few commands on the keys and it didn’t seem to trigger anything else. ‘I have no idea if I’ve just delayed this or if I’ve actually shut it down. We need to get them out of here.’

‘How?’

‘I’ll try to open the cells, I need you to basically get them all out of here in an orderly fashion, but quickly.’ He wasn’t going to pretend that he wasn’t angry at Michael, because he was, but before they could hash that out, they needed to stay alive first. ‘I’m a Manes, they’re not going to trust me, but they’ll trust you.’

‘Okay.’ Alex still hadn’t looked at him and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to right now.

‘I could still trip a security measure and blow us all to Kingdom come, just so you know.’ Alex said as he turned his attention back to the screen in front of him.

‘I trust you.’ Alex didn’t mean to let the harsh, disbelieving noise out, but he did.

‘Just be ready.’ Alex said.

‘Alex-‘

‘Not now.’ He snapped before Michael could get any further into that sentence. Michael went quiet, so Alex just focussed on trying to figure out how to open the cell doors without tripping another alarm.

They were the longest three minutes of his life. Michael, to his credit, didn’t say a word. Alex wasn’t even sure if he moved. The hiss of the cell doors all opening at once was both an immense relief and kind of terrifying. Alex’s phone ringing startled him so bad he nearly threw it away from him, like it was a grenade. Once he got his gut instinct under control, he picked up.

‘Yeah?’

‘Alex what’s happening in there?’ Kyle asked, he sounded frantic. ‘I just tied your brother to the freaking truck because he was starting to wake up. Are you okay?’ That was a difficult question.

‘I just got the cells open, I think I’ve shut down the alarm but I’m honestly not sure so we’re coming out asap. Also, don’t take your eyes off my brother and if he tries anything, knock him out again.’

‘Alright, got it.’

‘See you soon.’ Alex said and he hung up the phone. He took a deep breath before turning around in his chair.

He’d seen a lot in his life, but seeing Michael standing there, with a group of maybe twenty five aliens around him, looking like his emotions were trying to rip him apart, was up there. Alex didn’t even really know what to feel. He was terrified and happy and _angry_. Fucking hell he was angry.

‘Michael, we need to go. Now.’ Alex said as he picked up the gun from the desk. The aliens all seemed to turn to him at once and he refused to be scared. Michael stuttered out of his frozen state and started motioning, leading the others, his family out. Alex made sure to be the last one out, checking all of the cells, ignoring his protesting leg. 

‘You treacherous son of a bitch!’ Was the first thing Alex heard when he stepped outside of the building. Kyle looked shocked, horrified and terrified. Flint was indeed tied to the truck, and cursing up a storm at Alex.

‘Shut the fuck up.’ Alex snapped at him. He felt like he was balancing on a knife’s edge. He felt dangerous. He handed the gun to Kyle. ‘Hold onto that.’ Kyle held the weapon like it would try to bite him.

‘Why? I don’t know anything about guns.’

‘Because I don’t trust myself with it right now.’ Alex said and something in his tone must have been serious enough that Kyle looked at him intently.

‘Take a breath for a second.’

‘We don’t have time. We need to figure out how to get them all away from here and we need to figure out where we’re going to take them. We have no idea if the Air Force is about to show up here, guns blazing.’ Alex said as he positioned Kyle’s hand on the gun properly. ‘If he tries anything, just point and shoot at his leg.’ Alex ordered before turning to the group.

‘Got it.’ Kyle said, even though Alex was pretty sure he didn’t.

‘Guerin. We need to get them out of here asap.’ Michael looked at him, Alex didn’t have the time or the emotional capacity to figure his look out right now. ‘We need to call Max and whoever else knows. We need vehicles.’ Alex’s mind was working as fast as it could, trying to come up with a plan. They couldn’t ask Isobel, she was in the hospital, Kyle had informed him. ‘We’ll take them to my cabin?’

‘I’ve got a bunker under the airstream.’ Michael said. ‘And there’s a cave where we keep our pods, we can hole up there for a bit.’

‘The bunker is a good one, we can’t take them to a cave, it’s too cold at night.’

‘I’ll call Liz.’ Kyle said, his free hand already tapping on his screen. Alex nodded.

‘I’ll call Max.’ Michael said, fumbling around for his phone.

‘Do they understand English?’ Alex asked and Michael nodded firmly. ‘Alright.’

He could hear Kyle talking to Liz, trying to give the shortest possible explanation as to where they were and why they were there. From what Alex gathered, Liz was on her way. Judging my Michael’s conversation, so was Max.

Alex hadn’t given himself time to really look at the aliens yet. He wasn’t sure what he was going to find.

‘We need to get going with the first load.’ Alex decided. ‘We’ll get as many as we can into the truck and we’ll take them to town. They’ll need different clothes and a medical check-up.’ Kyle nodded sharply.

‘I can drive them to my place, we can check them over, get them changed and decide where to go from there.’ Alex hated the idea of Kyle going off alone, but it was their best option.

‘Okay. Kyle will head to town with the first group, we’ll stay here.’ Alex decided. If the Air Force did show up, the soldier and the telekinetic alien were their best bet to win, so Kyle needed to be the one to go. ‘Let’s go.’ He said, mostly to Michael. Michael started to rattle off what needed to happen, the aliens seemed to be completely willing to do what he asked, they trusted him. All of them were looking at Michael except for one woman. She was looking right at Alex.

He realized she was the one who’s cell Michael had broken, setting off the alarm in the first place. There was something familiar about her.

Her eyes.

She had Michael’s eyes.

Or Michael had her eyes, or whatever.

Alex’s breath hitched as she stepped towards him and Michael stopped talking in the middle of a sentence, his eyes darting over to Alex. She reached out a hand to him and Alex fought not to flinch back. She wasn’t going to hurt him, and if she was, maybe he deserved it.

‘Mom.’ Michael’s tentative voice stopped her, her hand hovering over Alex’s arm. ‘He’s-‘ Michael didn’t seem to know how to continue that, and neither did Alex. ‘He saved us all.’ Was what Michael decided on. She nodded, smiling softly. Her hand landed on Alex’s arm and it was like an explosion of his own memories behind his eyes. She was looking through his memories. She was searching, he realized, searching for Michael in his memories. He clenched his jaw and didn’t move, not until she seemed to slow everything down on the shed incident. He didn’t want to see this, not again, but he held out until his father dragged him from the shed, the hissed promise of pain in his ears he didn’t want to he couldn’t-

‘Alex?’ Kyle asked as he flinched away from Michael’s mom. Michael’s _mom_.

‘I’m fine.’ He said, but his voice sounded shaky as hell. Michael’s mom turned to the others and simply nodded. He wasn’t sure what happened, but it seemed to be some sort of seal of approval.

‘We can fit about seven in the truck, I think.’ Kyle seemed ready to get moving again and it shook Alex out of his minor freak out. He could deal with that later, they had people to save.

‘That would be good, but you’d have to come back for more and we’d have to leave them alone at your place, I hate the thought of that.’ Alex was trying to figure out what to do.

‘We could call Maria.’ Kyle suggested and Michael froze. Legitimately froze. Alex looked over at him, confused. He didn’t like the idea either, but it seemed like she was the only one he trusted to ask for help.

‘Okay.’ Alex agreed, taking out his phone. He looked at Michael one final time before dialling, he didn’t try to stop him.

‘Alex?’ Maria answered, she sounded confused, which wasn’t that strange, Alex _hated_ calling.

‘I need your help, no questions asked.’

‘What do you need?’ Maria asked immediately.

‘I need you to come to my location with the biggest car you have access to, as soon as possible.’

‘Text me the coordinates.’

‘I will.’ Alex said and he hung up, he send her the coordinates of Caufield immediately. He looked up to find Michael looking guilty and a little nauseous. Another thing to bring up later. ‘Alright, seven in this car please, I really don’t care who.’ Michael started to direct seven of the aliens to the truck while Kyle came over to Alex again.

‘Here, you’re keeping this.’ He pressed the gun back into Alex’s hands. ‘What about Flint?’

‘Flint is staying with me.’ Alex said firmly, heading over to his brother to untie him from the truck and retie him so he couldn’t go anywhere, but wasn’t attached to the truck anymore.

When they’d loaded seven aliens into the truck, Kyle started heading towards town, leaving Alex, Flint, Michael and 18 aliens standing in the middle of the desert. Alex hated how comfortable the gun felt in his hand. He hadn’t held one in a while, and he hadn’t missed it at all.

‘I knew we couldn’t trust you.’ Alex clenched his jaw before looking at his brother.

‘I told you to shut up.’ 

‘Why? You’re not actually going to do anything. You attacked me while I was trying to protect you. You’re a coward.’ Flint spit at him. Alex kept his face blank and tried to appear as unaffected as possible.

‘Says the guy who was holding twenty five innocent people in this fucking house of horrors.’

‘Innocent? _Innocent_?’ Flint shifted and Alex took the safety off the gun, that made Flint stop moving around, too bad it didn’t shut him up. ‘None of them are innocent, Alex. They’re all monsters, you saw the documents! One of them _killed_ Kyle’s father.’

‘One of them killed one of their captors. One of the people that had been torturing them for God knows how long.’ Alex snapped back.

‘What about that one, huh?’ Flint sneered at Michael, a nasty look on his face. ‘You don’t think dad told me how he perverted you? What he did to you?’

‘Shut the fuck up, Flint.’ Alex could feel the rage simmering underneath his skin. ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about.’ He went to turn away.

‘Dad told me-‘

‘Dad told you _what_?’ Alex whirled around and stepped closer, he forced himself to put the safety back on the gun. He really shouldn’t be holding it right now. ‘Did he tell you how he beat the ever-living crap out of me that day? Did he tell you he broke several of my ribs? Hit me so hard I cracked a tooth? Did he tell you how I could barely see out of one eye and how I was so dizzy for _days_ that I couldn’t even walk?’ Alex was shaking with fury. ‘You don’t know _anything_ Flint, you weren’t here.’

An approaching SUV stopped either of them from continuing. Max jumped from the car with a horrified look on his face. His eyes darted to Alex and over all the aliens and then to Michael.

‘Michael?’

‘We need to get them out of here, there’s no time to explain.’ Michael said as he started to heard seven aliens towards Max’s SUV. ‘Take them to Valenti’s house.’

‘Kyle Valenti?’

‘Yes. _Go_.’

Max looked like he was in a daze, but he did what Michael told him. He seemed to realize this was serious. It only took a few minutes for Max to be out of there again. It only took a minute of tense silence for Liz to arrive, driving a truck.

‘Alex?’ Liz said, she looked worried.

‘Later.’ He said, there just wasn’t any time to explain now. ‘We need you to take them to Kyle’s place.’ Liz just nodded with a small frown. They loaded another seven into Liz’s truck and send her off towards town. That left, Flint, Michael, Alex and four aliens, including Michael’s mother.

‘Alex, I need to tell you something.’ Michael’s tone said that Alex didn’t want to hear it.

‘Not now.’ Alex said. He wasn’t sure how he felt towards Michael right now. He understood that he’d been freaking out. Finding out that there’s a prison full of what he correctly assumed to be his family, was traumatic, and Alex being there-

‘Yes now.’ Michael insisted. Alex sighed.

‘What?’

‘I slept with Maria.’ If Alex had been feeling hot before, that was all gone now. It was like someone dumped a bucket of ice water over his head. ‘I’m sorry.’ Michael added when Alex didn’t respond. He forced himself to breathe before answering.

‘Why would you be sorry about that, we’re not together right now.’ It came out monotone and horrifically unbelievable.

‘No, but she’s your friend and I knew that.’ Michael said, it made Alex swallow.

‘Well, would you look at that.’ Flint said and Alex threw him a positively scathing look.

‘Shut. Up.’

‘She’s about to find out a whole lot of things about me and us.’ Michael said, drawing his attention away from his brother. Alex could see Maria’s car approach in the distance. ‘She’s about to find out that the guy she slept with is an alien and also in love with her best friend.’

‘In love?’ Present tense.

‘Well, yeah.’ Michael said. ‘I thought you knew that.’

‘How the fuck would I know that? We never _talk_.’ Alex threw his hands to the side, he was glad he’d put the safety on the gun. ‘And when we do, it either ends with me putting my foot in my mouth or you being a dick.’

Maria pulled her truck to a stop near their little group and she hopped from the car looking confused and horrified.

‘Alex what the fuck is going on?’ She asked, her eyes darting at Michael, the gun in Alex’s hands and Flint.

‘I need you to drive all of us to Kyle’s place and not ask questions until we’re on the road.’ Maria reached out and grabbed his hand, folding hers right over the hand holding the gun. She looked him dead in the eyes for what felt like hours, but was probably not longer than five seconds.

‘Okay, but you’re going to tell me who hurt you.’ She said firmly.

‘I’ll sit in the back with them.’ Michael nodded at the aliens. ‘You three can take the cabin.’ Alex didn’t want to read into this as Michael avoiding the conversation, Alex would have suggested the same thing. Michael could stay with the aliens, keep them calm and Alex could keep an eye on his brother.

‘Let’s go.’ Alex said, motioning at his brother with the gun. Flint pushed himself up with his bound hands, Alex made sure to stay out of his reach and keep his eyes on him. He put his brother on the passenger side and secured his hands to the door. Even if he tried to jump out, he’d be dragged along. He sat between Flint and Maria, who was driving, while Michael helped the remaining aliens into the back.

‘You’re going to regret this.’ Flint said, and Alex had had about enough. He reached for Maria’s glove compartment where he found, _yes_ , duct tape. He tore off a piece and placed it firmly over his brother’s mouth.

Maria started driving in the direction of Roswell. 

‘Alex, talk.’ She said, her knuckles were white as she had her hands clenched tightly around the steering wheel.

‘Long story, but they’re aliens. The crash back in the forties was real.’ It was the briefest possible explanation.

‘Why is Guerin here?’

‘He’s an alien.’ Maria’s head snapped towards him.

‘What?’

‘Watch the road.’ Alex said. Maria looked back at the road, but she still looked flabbergasted. ‘He’s an alien, him, Isobel Evans and Max Evans.’

‘Oh my God.’

‘Yeah, you slept with an alien.’ Maria yet again, looked at him like he was just smacking her in the face with his words.

‘How-‘

‘He told me.’ Alex said, swallowing away the emotions in his throat. Now was not the time.

‘Why?’ Alex hesitated. Maria glanced at the road a few times but kept looking back at him. ‘He’s museum guy.’ She said, the realization dawned on her. Alex nodded wordlessly.

Maria looked back at the road, overwhelmed would have been a good word to describe her. She looked torn between furious, confused, horrified, guilty and sad.

‘You didn’t know.’ Alex said, swallowing away his own feeling of guilt for making _Maria_ feel guilty about this. ‘You didn’t know because I didn’t tell you.’

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘I don’t know. I should have, but it was just so much easier to keep this _thing_ between the two of us. I don’t think he’s technically out and we were never actually, properly together, hell we’ve never even been on a date.’

‘But you love him.’

Alex didn’t have an answer to that. Right now he just felt overwhelmed. He’d been in love with Michael Guerin for so long. He’d never felt what he felt with Michael with anyone else, and he’d tried. He’d tried so hard to find that same feeling with others, but he couldn’t. But in all those years that they’d been having their…thing, they’d never actually got to know each other very well. It was mostly a lot of heated meet-ups in motels. A lot of mumbling half-conversations about nothing when they’d tired themselves out. Lots of goodbyes.

‘It was just a drunk hook-up, it meant nothing.’ Maria said, and Alex really wanted to believe her.

‘At least now we can both admit he’s not that bad after a shower.’ Alex said in an attempt to lighten the mood. He’d already been in two arguments today, his emotions had already skyrocketed twice, he didn’t want to argue with Maria as well. He wanted to be her friend. Maria laughed, not quite convincing, but good enough.

‘So, aliens?’

‘Aliens.’ Alex confirmed.

‘Holy shit.’

‘Yeah, we’ll fill you in on the whole thing later.’

‘Okay. I trust you.’ Maria said. Even if she said it just because she knew it would mean a lot to Alex, it still made him feel better. At least there was someone in this fucking town that trusted him.

When they arrived at Kyle’s it was… organized chaos. Kyle, Max and Liz seemed to have set up some sort of triage. They were checking the aliens and also handing out clothing. Alex hung back. He’d tied Flint to a chair in the kitchen and he was keeping an eye on him. He was trying not to let the emotions banging at the door he’d build in his head overflow, but it was cracking. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen once it broke. Maybe he’d cry, maybe he’d scream, maybe he’d go find a stack of plates and just throw them at a wall. He just knew he didn’t want to be holding a gun when it did.

‘Alex.’ Kyle’s voice had his head snap towards him. Easy, he tried to tell himself, you’re not in a war zone.

‘Everything okay?’

‘Yes. We’re getting ready to move the aliens, but I think you need to talk to someone first.’ Kyle said, walking closer. ‘You need to talk to Guerin, so give me that, and I’ll watch him.’ Kyle motioned for the gun, Alex raised an eyebrow, but Kyle made another insistent gesture at the weapon. So Alex sighed but didn’t hand the gun over to Kyle.

‘I’ll send Max over, I don’t trust you with this.’

‘Oh thank god, because I don’t trust me with that either.’ Kyle said in a rush of relief. Alex huffed out a laugh and tucked the gun in the back of his jeans. It wasn’t ideal, and it was most certainly dangerous, but he didn’t have a holster right now and he wasn’t about to walk around with a gun in his hand the whole time.

Alex was about to head out and find Max, but Kyle’s hand catching his sleeve stopped him.

‘Hey.’ Alex looked over at him. ‘I’m really glad you made it out of there.’ Alex wasn’t really sure how to reply to that.

‘I’m glad you listened to me when I told you to get out.’ Alex said, the corner of Kyle’s mouth quirked up in a small smile.

‘Don’t make me do that again.’ Alex didn’t have to ask what he meant. Don’t make me leave you behind again.

‘You know I can’t promise that.’ Kyle sighed, but nodded and let go of Alex’s sleeve. He made his way out into the living room and caught Max’s eye. He nodded his head at the kitchen and Max started moving in that direction immediately. It was kind of nice having someone here that was at least trained as a cop.

Alex scanned the room, looking for curls. He caught sight of a head of curls outside on the patio. Alex took a deep breath, moving between the different groups and headed towards him. Liz gave him an encouraging look and Maria squeezed his shoulder as he passed by her. He slid the glass backdoor open and Michael’s head snapped up. He’d been leaning on the railing of Kyle’s patio, head hanging. Alex wasn’t sure how to interpret the look on his face. Alex swallowed.

‘Kyle suggested I should talk to you.’ He said, sliding the door closed behind him.

‘Well, you did keep saying “not now”.’ He sounded almost bitter.

‘There were more important things going on than our personal drama.’ Alex said, unable to keep the defensive tone from his voice. ‘I figured we should save your family first, and then deal with-‘

‘With what?’ Alex clenched his jaw as Michael interrupted him. ‘With _us_?’ Alex took a deep breath, trying to figure out where to start.

‘As I told you. I found out about Caufield a week ago. I found a bunker that my dad has been running something called Project Shepard from. It’s basically all about aliens and the crash back in the forties. I knew that the fastest way to figure out exactly what was going on, would be to let my father think that I was on his side. Let him tell me, instead of trying to figure it all out myself.’ The beginning was as good of a place as any.

‘So you pretended to be on his side, and he just believed you?’ Michael leaned back against the railing, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked like he needed about fifteen hours of sleep.

‘He told me you were an alien.’ Alex said and he didn’t miss the way Michael flinched. ‘So, I made him believe that that was… the final straw, if you’d like. I played along, I dug down and found every last bit of stone-cold Manes I could find and I used that. He believed me.’ Alex pulled up one shoulder in a dismissive gesture. He didn’t think he would have believed himself, but his father had, so that was all that mattered.

‘And then you brought in Valenti.’ His voice was so carefully blank, Alex had to raise his eyebrows.

‘Yes?’

‘Why him?’

‘His father was involved in Project Shepard, apparently it’s been the families Manes and Valenti for generations. I figured Kyle would want to help me dismantle it, and he did.’ Alex said carefully.

‘Valenti, your high school bully.’ Ah, so that was what that was about? Alex rolled his eyes.

‘High school is ten years to the left.’ Alex took a few steps closer, the distance between them hurt a little. ‘We talked, he apologized. I needed help.’

‘Why didn’t you come to me?’

‘We weren’t exactly talking, Guerin.’ Alex snapped, a little more harshly than he’d meant to. ‘I was going to tell you, once I figured out how to save them _and_ how to tell you I figured out you were _an_ _alien_.’ Michael had the decency to look a little bashful at that. ‘I knew you’d barrel head first into this once I told you, so I waited.’

‘And I nearly killed them all.’ Alex sighed.

‘No, the system my father put in place nearly killed them all.’ He pressed, Michael didn’t look convinced.

‘I broke the glass which set of the alarm.’

‘You saw your mother in a prison cell.’

‘I hurt you.’

‘Yes, but you were under severe emotional distress.’

‘Still, what I said wasn’t fair. You were right.’ Michael pushed off the railing and stepped closer. ‘You’re not like your family, Alex.’ He was close enough now that Alex could see the golden specks in his eyes. The look on his face was open and vulnerable and sincere. Alex still wasn’t sure he believed him. The image of the fury on Michael’s face when he looked at him was still burned onto his retinas.

‘Right.’ Alex said, it sounded unbelievable to his own ears, let alone Michael’s. He sighed and stepped even closer, Alex could have touched him now.

‘I know you don’t believe me, but I was scared and you were right there, so I lashed out.’ Michael swallowed and reached out. His hand wrapped around Alex’s wrist, like he was trying to make sure he’d stay and listen. ‘It’s easy to get mad at you, to push you to leave, because I know you’ll come back. You always come back and you always come through when I need you.’ Alex had to look away. The intensity behind the words Michael seemed to be carefully selecting was too much. Alex already felt raw and exposed. He’d always known his family were not good people, but this was a whole new level of horrifying, and first Michael was saying one thing and now the other…

‘I’m easy to be angry at?’ He swallowed and walked over to the railing, pulling his wrist out of Michael’s grip. He could hear Michael follow him as he set his elbows on the railing, mirroring Michael’s position from before. ‘I don’t see how that’s a good thing.’

‘I read somewhere that it’s easiest to be angry at the people closest to you, _because_ they love you unconditionally. That’s why you fight the most with family, siblings, parents, because they’ll forgive you.’ Alex felt so fucking lost.

‘It didn’t work like that in my family.’ He tried to explain, tried to make Michael see that he didn’t get it.

‘Me and Max are kind of like that, and me and Is. I know that no matter what I say or do, they’ll still love me.’

‘So what? I’m your family? These people are your family, Michael.’ Alex said with a gesture over his shoulder at the aliens. Michael sighed and Alex could feel himself get more desperate. ‘Look, you can’t just say I’m your family, okay? I can’t-‘ Alex clamped his mouth shut, emotions suddenly crashing over him like a wave. ‘You can’t say that to me.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because you _are_ _my_ family.’ Alex swallowed. ‘And you don’t mean that in the same way I do.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘You slept with Maria. How much can you possibly love me if you went and slept with my best friend?’ Alex could feel the anger slipping out from behind the door he’d been keeping it behind. ‘She may not have known what you meant to me, but _you_ knew what _she_ meant to me. Were you just trying to hurt me? Make me walk away again and wait for me to come crawling back like some sad little puppy?’

‘No. _No_.’ Michael came closer and Alex backed away. ‘I didn’t- I- shit.’ Michael stuttered, unsettled like Alex hadn’t seen him in a long time. ‘I was mad. Not just at you, but at Isobel and Max and Kyle and Liz and the _world_. We were in Texas looking into a lead and she was right there.’ He stepped closer again and Alex held his ground this time. His leg was aching, but he ignored it. ‘I wanted a distraction, I use booze or sex, and she was right there. It was stupid and unfair to her _and_ you, but once I realized that it was too late.’ He reached out to Alex, a nasty, ugly part of him wanted to slap his hand away, tell him to never touch him again, but his treacherous heart wouldn’t let him. ‘ _I’m sorry_.’ Michael’s good hand brushed past his cheek and cupped his face. ‘It’s always been you, only you.’

Alex didn’t realize he was crying until Michael’s thumb swiped across his cheek to catch one of his tears.

‘Goddammit.’ Alex whispered, swiping angrily at his own cheeks.

‘I’m sorry for what I said, I’m sorry about Maria and I’m sorry for making you think I didn’t love you.’ Michael said and Alex looked him dead in the eye for all of it.

He believed him.

‘I’m sorry for not telling you about Caufield and I’m sorry for leaving you behind, all those years ago. I could stand here and tell you that I didn’t want to leave, but I did. I wanted to learn how to fight battles and win. I wanted to prove that I wasn’t weak, that I was strong, that I could survive.’ Alex said, trying to explain something he’d realized recently.

‘It’s okay.’ Michael said and that made Alex laugh. That’s what this whole thing would boil down to? “It’s okay”?

‘Can we just, at least _try_ to talk to each other when there’s shit going down?’ There was probably more that they needed to talk about, but they’d both been through a rollercoaster of bullshit today, and the day wasn’t even over yet.

‘Yes, and I’ll let you finish your sentences.’

‘And I won’t keep life changing information from you again.’

‘And I won’t sleep with your best friend again.’

‘You better not.’ Alex said firmly, putting his hand on Michael’s hip. ‘Because I can, and will, kill you, alien or not.’ Michael made a faux serious face.

‘Yes Captain.’ Alex rolled his eyes. ‘We’re kind of a mess, aren’t we?’ Michael smiled softly at him.

‘Yeah.’ Alex agreed. ‘We just have to make a decision. Are we doing this, or not? Because if we’re going to do this’ Alex motioned between the two of them ‘we’ll have to communicate and no more secrets and we’ll have to work through our bullshit.’

‘Therapy?’ Michael said with a frown. Alex snorted.

‘What, and tell them “oh yes my father is part of a giant government conspiracy that has hunted aliens, like my boyfriend, for decades”? I’m sure that would go over well.’ Michael cracked a smile.

‘They’d throw you right in a mental hospital.’

‘Exactly.’ Alex agreed. ‘Although, therapy isn’t all bad.’

‘Really?’

‘I had quite a lot of it after my leg, it can be nice, sometimes.’

‘It’s not like I could _actually_ tell them anything, otherwise they’d-’

‘-throw you in a mental hospital, yeah, I know.’ Alex squeezed Michael’s hip. ‘It might be good though, to talk to someone, it doesn’t have to be me, or your siblings, but someone who knows. Someone that you trust.’

‘That’s you, only you.’ Michael’s palm was warm against Alex’s skin and he kept _saying_ these things and Alex was tired and emotional and weak.

‘Does that mean we can kiss?’ The smirk he got in reply was more like the Michael he knew than anything else he’d seen today. It settled a spark of hope behind his breastbone. Maybe they could do this. Navigate the bullshit and somehow come out together in the end. Maybe he didn’t have to give up the one thing that gave him hope. Maybe they could figure out how to deal with this unexplainable connection.

‘I mean, I’m pretty sure my mom is watching us, but if you don’t mind that…’

‘She’s seen worse.’ Alex shrugged, and Michael tilted his head with a confused look on his face. ‘She took a little… mind walk? through my memories, mostly the ones of you.’ Michael made a face and flinched.

‘Oh, that’s-‘

‘Yeah.’ Alex confirmed. Michael shuddered dramatically.

‘Well, one kiss won’t hurt with some of the stuff she’s already seen.’ He said when he’d let go of the dramatics.

Alex could feel the familiar sweep of anticipation and the urge to just surge forward and throw himself at Michael. This part, they had always been good at. The physical stuff was never the problem. Alex allowed himself to relax when Michael kissed him. Alex dug his fingers into Michael’s curls and held him close, kissing him again and again and again. They’d never been good at chaste. Michael sort of sighed softly and nipped at Alex’s bottom lip, sliding his tongue past Alex’s lips as he opened up for him. Michael’s hands were big and warm on his waist as he pulled Alex even closer.

Alex’s breath stuttered on the exhale as he pulled back from Michael.

‘We should-‘ Michael pressed his lips to Alex’s neck. ‘We should stop.’ Alex tried, but he couldn’t suppress the shudder as Michael’s teeth scraped over his pulse point. He tried a different tactic. ‘Your mom is still watching.’ That had Michael _leap_ back from Alex, much to his amusement. Michael narrowed his eyes at him.

‘That was rude.’

‘Also true.’ Alex countered. ‘Come on cowboy, let’s go take care of your family.’ He held out his hand for Michael, who pouted, but didn’t protest as they headed back inside. Alex refused to look at any of the others, he didn’t even want to see the smug looks on their faces.

They moved the aliens to different houses where they could stay until Alex could make them all identities and find places for them to settle. It was really fucking hard work, but it was made a little easier by Michael’s hands digging into the knots in his muscles and the distractions of kisses and dinner. But there was also dismantling Project Shepard, getting his father locked up, figuring out how to save Isobel, defeating Isobel’s apparently evil and secretly alien husband and figuring out Rosa Ortecho could be resurrected. It was all a giant fucking mess, but the constant of Michael at his side made Alex feel like maybe, maybe they’d figure this all out. Maybe they’d get their happy ending.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


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